What’s in the Box: Sugar snap peas, baby golden beets w/greens, red russian kale, cabbage, summer squash, patty pan squash, zucchini, green onions, parsley, and cucumber.
What’s going on at the farm: The season seems to always fly ahead faster then the crew can run this time of year and this year is no exception. This means there is no time for anything except farming all day every day but that is no exception to our earlier months either. In between all the harvesting, cleaning, packing, markets, deliveries, paperwork, weeding, and mowing this week I was able to squeeze in some more plantings of summer arugula, fancy green and red mustards, orange watermelon, and celeriac (celery root). The sweet and hot peppers were weeded along with the swiss chard, and most of the cabbages and garlic. We pulled the first garlic bulbs to get a sneak peak at the upcoming harvest in two weeks and they are looking great. Our new strawberry field was weeded as well and the plants are setting lots of runners right now and next years crop looks very promising. We also pruned the tomatoes and pulled weeds in both greenhouses this week. My lawnmower decided to literally die this week sending out clouds of smoke and leaving me the chance to hire out some mowing and focus on getting all this other work done. The old berry field will be mowed by weedwacker and cleaned up this week making way for more fall field space and perhaps planting of turnips, rutabaga, late beans, and fall radishes like beauty heart, and daikon. Our tomatoes are nearing ripening, both cherry and slicing tomatoes alike and we are along with many of you i’m sure, anxiously awaiting the first ripe fruits. Sugar snap peas are done this week but there should be enough for a little to go around. We have green cabbage ready for your 4th of July weekend and it would make some awesome coleslaw! Some other suggestions for the holiday weekend include grilling your summer squash. I cut them in spears or thick rings on the patty pans and brush them with olive oil and garlic powder or celery salt or barbecue seasoning. A little soy sauce tastes pretty good on them grilled too. we have cucumbers and onions again which would make a great cucumber salad and of course the baby beets which are the gold variety this time around. Remember to eat your kale as well and stay powered up with this super food. If nothing else it is great with rice for a dark stir fry green, wonderful for juicing or smoothies, and also the increasingly popular kale chips. Here begins the second quarter of our season this week and I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday! Until next week, enjoy the veg!